73.1 REPTIUA: : SAURIA: SCINCIDAE EGREGIUS

Catalogue of American Amphibians and . used in the old names for E. e. egregius, E. e. onocrepis, and E. e. similis, respectively, are also inappropriate. Almost all MOUNT,ROBERTH. 1968. Eumeces egregius. E. egregius have stripes; brown is only one of several color variants in E. e. onocrepis; and E. e. similis occurs in Florida Eumeces egregius (Baird) and Alabama as well as in Georgia. Mole • ETYMOLOGY.Egregius, from the Latin "egregious," con• notes distinctness or prominence, and perhaps was applied egregius Baird, 1858: 256. Type-locality, "Indian in reference to some particular uniqueness of this form among Key, Monroe County, Florida." Syntypes, U. S. Natl. Mus. 3127 (2 specimens, both apparently males, examined by the with which Baird was acquainted. Onocrepis author), collected by G. Wurdemann (date not given). (Latin, "ass shoe") refers to the figure produced by the light Eumeces egregius: Cope, 1875: 45. striping on the front of the head, which Cope described as "horse-shoe shaped." Similis (Latin, "like") alludes to the • CONTENT. Five are recognized: egregius, similarity of E. e. similis to the nominate subspecies. Lividus onocrepis, similis, lividus, and insularis. (Latin, "blue" or "black") refers to the blue tail. lnsularis (Latin, "island") alludes to the island habitat. • DEFINITION. This is a fairly small of Eumeces (adults from 34 to 62 mm snout-vent length; females average 4.5 mm longer than males). The limbs are reduced, the l. Eumeces egregius egregius (Baird) primary temporal is lacking, and the ear opening is partially Florida Keys mole skink closed. There are usually three supraoculars. Scale rows at midbody number 18 to 24. Both head and body lack a median Baird. See species account. light stripe. Sexually active males are suffused with yellow, Eumeces egregius: Cope, 1875: 45. orange, or reddish-orange on the lips, chin, sides of neck, Eumeces egregius egregius: Taylor, 1935: 490, part. See E. e. lower sides of the body, and occasionally on the ventrum. similis account. • DESCRIPTIONS.The original descriptions of Eumeces e. • DEFINITION. This subspecies has a red or brownish-red egregius and E. e. onocrepis are by Baird (1858) and Cope tail, dorsolateral light stripes that neither widen nor diverge, (1871), respectively. Both of these are brief and partially in• and conspicuous lateral light stripes. Twenty-two or more accurate. A general description, apparently based on a com• scale rows occur in approximately 60 per cent of the in• posite series of E. e. egregius and E. e. onocrepis, was given dividuals. The orange or reddish.orange suffusion in sexually by Cope (1900). Taylor (1935) described both forms in detail. active males often extends onto the ventrum. McConkey (1957) described E. e. similis, and Mount (1965) described E. e. lividus and E. e. insularis. • REMARKS. The relationship of this poorly known sub· • ILLUSTRATIONS.Illustrations (some duplicates) are avail• species to the others has not been clearly established. In able as follows: Eumeces e. egregius-Taylor (1935), fig. 2 in coloration. it most closely resembles E. e. similis, which Mc• pI. XXXI and fig. 83 (head only); Smith (1946), pI. l09A, Conkey (1957) believed to be its precursor. Mount (1965) B, and C, and figs. 102 and 103 (head only); Conant (1958), noted that in certain aspects of squamation, E. e. egregius is pI. 18 (color); and Mount (1965), fig. 8e. E. e. onocrepis• intermediate between E. e. similis and E. e. lividus. Smith (1946), as E. onocrepis, pI. 110A and B; Conant (1958), pI. 15 (color); Mount (1965), fig. 8E. E. e. similis-Mount (1965), fig. 8A. E. e. lividus-Mount (1965), fig. 8D. E. e. insularis-Carr and Goin (1955), as E. egregius, pI. 54; and Mount (1965), fig 8B. E. e. onocrepis X E. e. lividus inter• grade-Taylor (1935), as E. e. onocrepis, fig. 1 in pl. XXXI; and Smith (1946), as E. onocrepis, pI. 110e. Mount (1963) provided a photograph of copulation between a male E. e. similis and a female E. e. lividus, and photo• graphs of aggressive displays by males of E. e.. ~imilis and E. e. onocrepis. • DISTRIBUTION.The range of Eumeces egregius includes Florida, the Coastal Plain of Georgia, and portions of the Coastal Plain and adjacent provinces of Alabama east of the Black Warnor and Tombigbee rivers. This skink is strongly fossorial and occurs in greatest numbers where the soil is sandy or gravelly and dry. Such habitats often support sand• hill or scrub vegetation associations (Laessle, 1958, discussed the nature and distribution of these associations). • FOSSILRECORD. None. • PERTINENTLITERATURE.The most recent treatment of variation and systematics (Mount, 1965) included a considera· tion of previous discussions by Taylor (1935), Carr (1940), Smith (1946), Neill (1957), and McConkey (1957). A study of the life history and ecology by Mount (1963) amplified previous work by Hamilton and Pollack (1958). Distributional works, most containing observations on ecol• ogy, have been published by Loveridge (1930), Van Hyning (1933), Neill (1940, 1948, and 1958), Kauffeld (1941), Jan• son (1954), Duellman and Schwartz (1958), LeBuff (1960), and Mecham (1960). Other pertinent contributions are Babbitt (1951, mating), Telford (1959, ecology) and Hamilton and Pollack (1956, predators). • REMARKS. The common names used in this account are those that I proposed in 1965. The old name, "red-tailed MAP. Solid symbols mark type localities; hollow symbols are skink," is inappropriate for the blue-tailed subspecies, E. e. other known localities. Question- marks indicate unknown lividus. The antecedents "striped," "brown," and "Georgia," boundaries. 73.2 2. Eumeces egregius onocrepis (Cope) LJTERATURECITED Peninllula mole Ilkink Babbitt, Lewis H. 1951. Courtship and mating of Eumeces egregius. Copeia 1951 (1): 79. Plistodon onocrepis Cope, 1871: 82. Type-locality "Dummet's Baird, Spencer F. 1858. Description of new genera and Plantation, F1orida" (see remarks). The holotype was species of North American lizards in the museum of the collected by C. J. Maynard and deposited in the Museum Smithsonian Institution. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia of the Peabody Academy of Science, but apparently is 10: 253-256. lost. The date of collection was not given. Carr, Archie Fairly, Jr. 1940. A contribution to the herpetol• Eumeces onocrepis: Cope, 1875: 45. ogy of Florida. Univ. Florida BioI. Sci. Ser. 3 (1): 1-118. Eumeces egregius: Cope, 1900: 655, part. - and Coleman J. Goin. 1955. Guide to the reptiles, am• Eumeces egregius onocrepis: Taylor, 1935: 497. phibians, and freshwater fishes of Florida. Univ. Florida • DEFINITION. The dorsolateral light stripes show widening, Press, Gainesville. ix + 339 p. divergence, or both. Tail color is brown, red, orange, yellow, Conant, Roger. 1958. A field guide to reptiles and am• pinkish, or violet, but never blue. phibians of the United States and east of the l00th meridian. Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston. xviii + • REMARKS. This subspecies, presumably derived from inter• 366 p. grades between E.e. similis and E. e. lividus, or their fore• Cope, Edward D. 1871. Catalog of the Reptilia and Batrachia runners, is extremely variable. This variation needs more obtained by C. J. Maynard in Florida. p. 82-85, In Second detailed analysis than has thus far been attempted. and Third Ann. Rept. Peabody Acad. Sci. for 1869-70. Stejneger and Barbour (1939: 90) were apparently correct 1875. Checklist of North American batrachians and in assuming the type-locality to be Dummit (Dummet's) reptiles. Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus. (1): 1-104. Grove, two miles southeast of Allenhurst in Brevard County. 1900. Crocodilians, lizards and snakes of . Mount (1965) incorrectly stated that Dummit Grove is on U. S. Natl. Mus. Rept. for 1898: 153-1270. Merritt Island. Actually, the site is 15 miles north of Merritt Duellman, William E. and Albert Schwartz. 1958. Am• Island, which is delimited on the north by Banana Creek. phibians and reptiles of southern Florida. Bull. F10rida State Mus. 3 (5): 181-324. 3. Eumeces egregius similis McConkey Hamilton, William J., Jr. and J. A. Pollack. 1956. The Northern mole Ilkink food of some colubrid snakes from Fort Benning, Georgia. Ecology 37 (3): 519-526. Eumeces egregius egregius Taylor, 1935: 490, part. - 1958. Notes on the life history of the red-tailed skink. Eumeces egregius similis McConkey, 1957: 17. Type-locality Herpetologica 14 (1) : 25-28. "northwestern outskirts of Augusta, Richmond County, Janson, Harvey S. 1954. Notes on the Eumeces Georgia." Holotype (examined by author), Univ. F10rida egregius in Georgia. Copeia 1954 (3): 229. Coll. 7647 (female), collected by Wilfred T. Neill, 29 Kauffeld, Carl F. 1941. The red-tailed skink, Eumeces March 1939. egregius, in Alabama. Copeia 1941 (1): 51. Laessle, A. M. 1958. The origin and successional relation• • DEFINITION. The dorsolateral light stripes, evident from ship of sandhill vegetation and sand-pine scrub. Ecol. hatching, neither widen nor diverge. The tail is red, reddish• Monogr. 28 (4): 361-378. orange, orange, or reddish-brown. Scale rows at midbody are LeBuff, C. R. 1960. The presence of certain herptiles in usually 21 or fewer. There are 6 supralabials on each side. southwest Florida. Herpetologica 16 (3): 197-198. • REMARKS. Geographic variation in this subspecies in• Loveridge, Arthur. 1930. On some of the volves the nature of the body stripes. The dorsolateral stripes Eumeces from North America. Copeia (173): 112. are conspicuous and extend onto the tail in eastern and south• McConkey, Edwin H. 1957. The subspecies of Eumeces eastern populations, but tend to become abbreviated and less egregius, a lizard of the southeastern United States. Bull. evident in populations inhabiting central western Georgia, Florida State Mus. 2 (1): 13-23. Alabama, and the F10rida Panhandle. Concomitantly, the Mecham, John S. 1960. Range extensions for two south• lateral stripes are less well developed, or absent, in the western eastern skinks. Herpetologica 16 (3): 224. populations. Mount, Robert H. 1963. The natural history of the red-tailed skink, Eumeces egregius Baird. Amer. Midland Nat. 70 (2): 356-385. 4. Eumeces egregius UvUlus Mount - 1965. Variation and systematics of the scincoid lizard, Blue-tailed mole Ilkink Eumeces egregius (Baird). Bull. Florida State Mus. 9 (5): 183-213. Eumeces egregius lividus Mount, 1965: 209. Type-locality, "east side of U. S. Hwy. 27, 5.2 miles N Avon Park, Polk Neill, Wilfred T. 1940. Eumeces egregius in Georgia. Copeia 1940 (4): 266. County, F1orida." Holotype, a female, Univ. F10rida Coll. 1948. The lizards of Georgia. Herpetologica 4 (4): 153• 12642.1, collected by R. H. Mount on 27 February 1960. 158. • DEFINITION. The unregenerated tail from hatchling to 1957. Historical biogeography of present-day Florida. Bull. young adult is always intense blue. Regenerated tails and Florida State Mus. 2 (7): 175-220. those of old adults vary in color from light blue to salmon. 1958. The occurrence of amphibians and reptiles in salt• The dorsolateral light stripes show widening, divergence, or water areas, and a bibliography. Bull. Mar. Sci. Gulf and both. There are 7 supralabials on each side. Caribbean 8 (1): 1-97. Smith, Hobart M. 1946. Handbook of lizards: lizards of the • REMARKS. This subspecies may have persisted in F10rida United States and of Canada. Comstock Publ. Co. Ithaca, throughout the Pleistocene and possibly resembles the pheno• New York. xxi + 557 p. type of the precursor of the species (Mount, 1965). Stejneger, Leonhard and Thomas Barbour. 1939. A check• list of North American amphibians and reptiles. 4th ed. 5. Eumeces egregius insularis Mount Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge. 207 p. Cedar KeYIlmole Ilkink Taylor, Edward H. 1935. A taxonomic study of the cos• mopolitan scincoid lizards of the genus Eumeces, with an Eumeces egregius insularis Mount, 1965: 210. Type-locality, account of the distribution and relationships of its species. "Cedar Key Airstrip, Levy County, Florida." Holotype, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 23 (1): 1-643, 84 figs., 42 pis. a female, Univ. Florida Coll. 12598.4, collected 8 April Telford, Samuel R., Jr. 1959. A study of the sand skink, 1960 by R. H. Mount. Neoseps reynoldsi Stejneger. Copeia 1959 (2): 110-119. • DEFINITION. The dorsolateral light stripes, often indistinct, Van Hyning, O. C. 1933. Batrachia and Reptilia of Alachua neither widen nor diverge. Tail color varies from dull, dark County, Florida. Copeia 1933 (1): 3-7. orange to reddish-brown or maroon. The hatchling in life is ROBERTH. MOUNT, AUBURNUNIVERSITY,AUBURN,ALABAMA very dark, almost black; the stripes are only faintly discernible. 36830. • REMARKS. The relationship of this subspecies to the Published 16 December 1968 by the American Society of others has not been clearly established. In coloration it re• Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Publication is supported by sembles most closely some of the western populations of E. e. similis. As in E. e. egregius, however, certain characteristics of National Science Foundation grant G24~31. squamation suggest influence from E. e. lividus. Primary editor for this account, Clarence J. McCoy, Jr.